According to Virginia State Code Section 46.2-905, bicyclists are to stay to the right when riding less than the normal speed of traffic except to pass other bicyclists or vehicles, to prepare to make a left turn, when necessary to avoid conditions (including fixed or moving objects, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes too narrow for a bicycle and vehicle to travel side by side) that make it unsafe to continue along the right.

Moving to the left in the lane to avoid car doors, for instance, even if it means taking the entire lane, is permitted by the State Code.

In 2009, the Federal Highway Administration approved the use of Shared Roadway Markings ("Sharrows") in their Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Many cities around the country are using sharrows on streets that are both popular with bicyclists but may be too narrow for conventional bike lanes.

The overall goals are: to improve the position of bicyclists on roads without bike lanes, reduce bicycling on sidewalks, assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in a shared lane with on street parallel parking in order to reduce the chance of a bicyclist's impacting the open door of a parked vehicle, encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motorists, and reduce the incidence of wrong-way bicycling.